states. that is our big story at 6:00. >> the presidential election isn't the only thing on the minds of maryland voters. other hot topics include same- sex marriage, expanded gambling and a dream act. >> our lead investigative reporter is in the newsroom. david collins is downtown with the push on those hot button issues. >> tracey mitchell is an washington with the race to the white house. >> this race is so close, analysts are predicting a cliffhanger. it is the finale. >> accomplishing real change is not just something i talk about. it is something i have done and that something i will do as president of the united states. >> we know what change looks like. >> in a race still close to

call, what matters most in these final hours is getting folks to the polls, especially in those key battleground states. >> if you want to see where the real battleground states are, look at where they are spending their last 24 hours. these are the state's their polls show are still in contention. >> cover mitt romney makes five stops in four states. >> if you are willing to work with me and knocked on some doors and make some phone calls, we will win wisconsin. >> the president is on the beat. three stops, three states -- wisconsin, ohio and iowa. polls give the president a razor-thin lead and that is not enough to claim victory. both men have fanned out their campaigns across the country. >> we need you, virginia. if we win virginia, we win this

election. >> nv, we are counting on you. we know you can do this. we are in this together. >> ohio plays big in this race. both candidates are on the run and there events are just 7 miles apart. >> although the governor is not on tomorrow's ballot, much of his legislative agenda is. four issues are now referendum questions. although the expanded gambling question is required under the constitution. with alive now to federal hill for more details. >> these are high profile and emotionally charged issues. for the first time in recent history, voters get to decide them all in one day and perhaps send a message to the governor and general assembly. gov. martin o'malley's name is not on the ballot but much of his legislation agenda is.

table games would go before the voters. >> vote for schools, jobs, vote for question 7. >> pass or fail, it is still part of his agenda. he has a long history of opposing gambling money. he proclaimed as an embarrassing way to solve fiscal problems. he said funding education with a gambling gimmick is a false and bonehead idea. he said it was a morally bankrupt way to fund education and said he was sick of that issue. >> it would have been better if we could have been done with this five years ago. >> legally recognizing same-sex marriages also part of the governors' agenda. it involved from the catholic church to supporting several unions as mayor. >> whether it is the human

dignity of every person, it should be respected equally under the law. >> the redistricting measures, critics say a strong to favor democrats. there is also the tree back, question 4, which gives illegal immigrant students and increased college tuition rate. >> i think it signals more of that the confluence of a court decision and at ease of electronic signatures in the internet age has made it a lot easier for the forces of know to be obstructionists and put these things on the ballot. >> that gambling question is shattering campaign finance records. with more on that and the money, j. miller joins us now live in that newsroom. >> maryland is so blue that this would have been a sleepy

campaign but the big ballot question has provided a huge political wakeup call. with that comes very big money. >> that tv ads have dominated the airwaves for weeks. >> follow the money had checked the facts for yourself. >> if we don't pass question 7, we will lose hundreds of millions for our school. >> to giants have been slugging it out in tv ads at a pace maryland has never seen. and gm wants to operate a new casino in prince george's county. >> if we don't pass question 7, west virginia winds and we lose. >> nationalist trying to protect its existing casinos. >> question 7 is a massive giveaway. >> according to the latest reports, the national has spent billions of dollars trying to defeat question 7. mgm and other supporters spent

$40.2 million tried to convince voters to pass it. a total of $90.1 million on the sole question of expanded gambling. that is more than half the $155 million spent in the entire 2006 election. dozens and dozens of races. >> question 6 make a lot of broken promises about gay marriages. >> my support for question 6 -- >> also, question 6 which legalizes gay marriage. the campaign to beat question 6 has spent $1.7 million. the campaign to spat -- to pass that has spent nearly three times more. if it succeeds, maryland voters would be the first in the country to approve gay marriage at the polls. >> it gay marriages also on the ballot in three other states, maine, washington state, and minnesota. >> thank you.

in baltimore county, the board of election was busy as usual. the director says the county's 227. places are ready for voters. the board of elections says they have staff and equipment ready for the 7:00 a.m. opening. >> i think we're going to have a great day. lines, we will have. we just encourage voters to reject their sample ballot -- read their sample ballot. that way they will take long at the voting machine. >> polls opened at 7:00. we have heard it -- we have held some of virtual town hall chats but -- we're getting answers on questions 6 and 7. it's the full transcript and sample ballot at wbaltv.com. just one week ago, the northeast was struck by superstore miss zandi and now there is a nor'easter headed our way.

>> we are tracking the system now. >> the system is way out and the mississippi river valley. it has to make a critical term up to the atlantic coastal areas. that happens tuesday and wednesday. anything can happen but the potential is there and that is why people are starting to pay attention. you can see the storm system on the border. what's anticipated is the storm will drop toward the coast and make a run up the eastern seaboard. if it stays close enough, the precipitation and nasty weather will make its way back to baltimore. that will end up around southern new england. either way, it looks like the areas that felt sandy will feel this again but will be nearly as strong. it will be associated with a moderate to strong nor'easter. it has to get them all a little

nervous even though this will not be nearly as strong as sandy. >> i think the main issue is that the ground is so saturated. even if we don't get a lot of precipitation, if we get a good wind gusts, that could not down a couple of trees and make a lot of problems. >> it is a possible situation of here we go again. a week after the super storm hits the northeast with a fury, and number of the most popular weather models show a nor'easter headed for the same area. while damage was relatively minor, there is concern about more flooding on the eastern shore and snow in the mountains. that means more hard work. >> we are restocking where we need to. >> bge has started to get things

moving after sandy blew through. inspection crews have been looking over trees which could be more vulnerable because the ground is very saturated. >> its a concern for us. trees are in a precarious position and it only takes one wrong gust to bring that line down. we will continue with the inspection process through the week. >> but the one silver lining may have been caused by sandy. the strong wind knocked most of the leaves off area trees which gives a little more leeway. >> anything above 35 miles an hour, we start to get concerned. we will see more damage to the east as opposed to the west. >> it is also expected to strike the hardest-hit areas in new york and new jersey which has sponsored officials to send 64 support personnel and vehicles to assist. >> it is a challenge and we're

glad to support them as they supported us in the past. >> as far as those crews set up north, officials say of the storm rolled through here, they can call them back. i talked to officials and all of them tell me they will wait until tomorrow to see where the storm track to make up a plan. >> to learn how you can help those impacted by this super storm and see more pictures, you can go to our web site. coming up, bigger is better at mount washington tavern. >> a look at the restaurant that was rebuilt after being burned to around one year ago. >> storm system developing in

the middle of the country could end up on the mid-atlantic coast. right now, it is 43 degrees at right now, it is 43 degrees at the airport. i've always been lucky. flew 37 bombing missions over germany. made it home every time. i'm lucky to have good friends who are all still around, and we're all lucky to have a friend named ben. ben's protected our medicare and veterans' benefits. and he's helping my 13 grandchildren afford college. he's my friend, ben. i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i'm honored to approve this message. maryland, it's time. time for marriage equality. question 6 strengthens protections for our churches and guarantees the civil right to commit to the one you love. while there are those trying to divide us,

presidents obama and clinton stand with us. pastors, business leaders, newspapers, democrats and republicans are all coming together for question 6. because it's about fairness-- treating everyone equal under the law. and who could be against that?

>> on halloween of last year, a popular mount washington tavern burnt to the ground, but it has been fixed. >> the owners got back to work to redesign the tavern even better than the original building. >> we had to do everything out

-- upgraded to code, so now we have an elevator and sprinkler system. the national layout itself, it is all on one level whereas before, it was an up and down the bar and it is much more open now and easier to navigate. >> all new decorations and furnishings complete the look. it has undergone a complete transformation including local art work and an outdoor deck area. the tavern and restaurant will reopen at 4:00 tomorrow, just in time to celebrate election day. >> we should have fine weather for election day tomorrow. maybe the coldest temperatures of the seasons. the afternoon i was way below normal. noord highs in the '80s, so sign of that warps in our direction.

bill warmth so far, a possibility we could go below that and said a new low. you can see the skies are clear and the air is dry. temperatures will drop quickly through the rest of that evening. we see numbers in the '30's and low 40's, they didn't even get above freezing in western maryland where the snow keeps things quite chilly. central maryland and southern maryland, the growing season ends tonight. 25 and the suburbs and the 35 downtown. a light breeze. the sun went down at 5:00. that is early now in standard time. even with a lot of sunshine, it will be a rather chilly november day. the winds and out of the northeast. things will be gradually increasing.

in the mountains where there has been snow on the ground, the sunshine is there but it is cold. a potential for a storm off the coast midweek at that, -- the better chances for precipitation will be central and eastern maryland. it looks like that will mainly impact the coastal areas. the rain will become more likely in that area, though even on the lower eastern shore, election day should be beautiful as a high-pressure holds. dropping south toward the gulf, we are expecting it to develop in north florida. the cold high pressure is supplying enough chills that some areas could see what snow mixed in. the best chance for that is wednesday evening as the storm draws in some colder air. this is the european model on wednesday. is significantly off shore, so

you could see the impact is from baltimore to the coast. a little farther west, we get into the rain and snow but if it stays off shore, it is the beaches that will be dealing with the impact. it is no where near as strong as sandy but we're talking about a high wind watch and gusts over 50 miles an hour. the rainfall could be significant along the coast. it does look like the winds will be strongest on the beach. we will have 25 to 30 mile an hour winds on wednesday. it all depends on the track of the storm. no excuse for not voting tomorrow. a windswept rain mixed with wet snow and a thursday morning. look at the warming trend next weekend.

>> their raven's coach likes where things stand right now. he doesn't necessarily like how his team got to six and two. a great start and a great finish. tapping the opening drive. only one first down in the second quarter. zero in the third quarter. but when they trailed, he finds the ignition switch. that is crucial to get the go- ahead touchdown drive rolling. they capped that and that shows precise execution. it great individual talent and speed to finish it off. plane to strong quarters won't cut it. especially since the ravens will

face the steelers twice in the next for wheat beer -- for the next six weeks. >> we're not the team we need to be. we are not as good as we need to be. we need to be better on third down and run the ball more consistently and protect our quarterback more consistently. all of the things on the events of side need to continue to get better but we are not going to be six and two in the second half 3 >> -- in the second half. >> the boston red sox appeared to be ready to hire talent away from the red sox. according to the red sox manager, they appear to be hiring the orioles pitching coordinator as their new pitching coach. he has worked with the jurors at all levels in the minor leagues. -- with pictures at all levels in the minor leagues.

the string of injuries is stretching across two linebackers and you cannot replace them with a quarterback. no. 9 suffered a torn a cl in the loss to georgia tech. he has started every game for maryland this season. the team captor and seek -- and team leader -- he will finish the rest of his season with the terrapins and there are three games remaining left this season. stick around. we will have the latest on the potential nor'easter and your seventh day forecast straight ahead.

>> a president will be chosen tomorrow, but election day always brings chances and contentious ballot questions. what you need to know before you had to the polls. how local first responders are helping our neighbors to the north and the latest on the weather system that could cost weather system that could cost

i've always been luc. flew 37 bombing missions over germany. made it home every time. i'm lucky to have good friends who are all still around, and we're all lucky to have a friend named ben. ben's protected our medicare and veterans' benefits. and he's helping my 13 grandchildren afford college. he's my friend, ben. i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i'm honored to approve this message.

>> some potentially heavy weather coming up but not as heavy. >> tomorrow looks like a gorgeous day. sunny skies and most of the nation will have great weather. the ghost -- the gulf coast may have to deal with a little rain but then the areas hardest hit will be the eastern shore and the coast trade it moves out thursday morning. when a gust up to 35 miles an hour and rain could mix with what's know at times it the state's close enough to the coast. >> it is still unwelcome news. thank you for joining us. >> nbc nightly news with brian williams is next.